Taylor Swift was notably absent from the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday — but she’s still being blamed for boyfriend Travis Kelce‘s highly-criticized performance this season.
Chiefs fans — and, it appears, Kelce himself — were frustrated during the Chiefs’ match-up against the Falcons on Sunday, September 22, with Sports Illustrated calling the game Kelce’s “third underwhelming week in a row.” The 34-year-old tight end, who has yet to score a touchdown this season, was rarely targeted during the game — and as a result, caught just four passes for 30 yards. In one viral clip from Sunday, Kelce seemed emotional while on the sidelines, wiping his face with a downcast look. (The moment quickly turned into a meme dubbed “Sad Travis Kelce.”)
Though the Chiefs still beat the Falcons 22 to 17 — and have won all three games of the season so far — Kelce’s performance this year has already been critiqued as everything from a “slow start” to “one of the worst starts of his career.” Therefore, some NFL commentators — and a wealth of football fans — are wondering about Kelce’s headspace on the field, with many wondering if his high-profile romance with Swift has anything to do with it.
Thousands of NFL fans took to X (formerly known as Twitter), to voice their opinions that it’s Swift — or the time that Kelce is spending with her — who is to blame for Kelce’s performance this season.
“TayTay’s destruction of Kelce has begun,” one person wrote.
“I hate that Taylor Swift has ruined Travis Kelce’s NFL career,” another commented. “He’s too distracted.”
“Travis kelce is either way old or VERY DISTRACTED! YOUR FANS ARE STARTING TO GET PISSED! MAYBE YOU NEED TO BE SINGLE TO PLAY BETTER FOOTBALL! This s*** is getting old,” a third person opined, tagging Kelce, Swift and the NFL in the tweet.
Swifties, however, were not taking the criticism sitting down.
Taylor Swift attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Fans came to the singer’s defense after NFL fans were blaming her for the rough start to boyfriend Travis Kelce’s 2024-2025 NFL season.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
“Lemme remind y’all Taylor Swift distracted Travis Kelce all the way to a superbowl win last year,” one fan pointed out. “Keep her name out your mouth. We are 3-0.”
“the ‘travis is distracted’ talk is so f***ing misogynistic,” another fan shared. “he was wide open time and time again, he can’t throw himself the ball. let’s stop acting like he can’t handle business bc he works harder than anyone and everybody on the chiefs will tell you that and HAVE.”
Others simply thought people were hating on Swift herself.
“I think the main issue for us is the pundits claiming he’s distracted – which is a direct misogynistic dig at Taylor and couldn’t be further from how he’s handled everything,” opined another user. “Nobody says [Buffalo Bills quarterback] Josh Allen’s problems are because of [girlfriend] Hailee [Steinfeld].”
“No one says [Chiefs quarterback] Pat [Mahomes] is distracted when he has two kids and another on the way with a wife who has made it into a few headlines herself lately 🤪,” an X user agreed. “It feels like a narrative with the talking heads that they like to use 24/7.”
As for Mahomes’ take on Kelce’s season so far, he thinks the other teams “respect” him so much that their defense is crowding him. “We’re calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it’s like two or three people are going to him,” the QB shared post-game, noting that Kelce “understands.”
“I think that’s the great thing about him is he wants to make an impact in the game but he wants to win at the end of the day,” Mahomes added, noting: “I’m going to try to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open.”
